Orange County, New Rochelle, Wesley Hills Join Push for TZB Transit

New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson and Orange County Executive Edward Diana are two of the latest Hudson Valley leaders to call for transit across the Tappan Zee Bridge.

The calls for rapid transit on the Tappan Zee Bridge are coming from more places across the Hudson Valley. This week Orange County Executive Edward Diana joined his colleagues in Westchester and Rockland Counties to demand that bus rapid transit be built on the new Tappan Zee span. Local governments on both sides of the river, too, continue to sign on in support of new cross-county transit, which the Cuomo administration removed from the project, disregarding a decade of public planning.

“Better transit is essential to help relieve congestion, ensure mobility and enhance the economic vitality of our region,” Diana told the Times-Record, adding that the removal of rapid bus service from the plans after ten years of consensus-building was “unacceptable.”

Added Nancy Proyect, the president of the Orange County Citizens Foundation, “Building a new bridge without improving how we commute or conduct business is both penny- and pound-foolish.” Orange County’s support for Tappan Zee transit is particularly notable given that the bridge and the larger I-287 corridor do not run directly through the county.

At the same time, support for transit continues to grow in Westchester County. In New Rochelle, the seventh-largest city in New York, the City Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday affirming its support for Tappan Zee Transit, according to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. Sponsored by Mayor Noam Bramson, the resolution calls for the state to build “dedicated public transportation infrastructure that is integrated into a regional mass transit system” on the new bridge.

The Village of Wesley Hills, located in Rockland County, also passed a resolution.

I have to admit that I’m stunned by the support for transit on the TZ Bridge in Rockland and Orange Counties. They’re sick of the car-based lifestyle too!

Miles Bader

@HamTech87:disqus I suspect they’re also sick of Cuomo’s heavy-handed “my way or the highway” (oh wait they’re the same!) approach to allocating large amounts of money.

Seriously though, wtf is wrong with Cuomo? He seems willing to throw away huge amounts of political goodwill to get his way on the TZB … and for what? What on earth does he gain in return by being so bizarrely obstinate? I can’t see any actual advantage to him from pushing strongly for a car-only TZB. His behavior on this is just … weird.

Anonymous

@google-9ed3368a6439fa92efd353af4436290d:disqus I can think of only one explanation: the 2016 presidential election. Call me cynical, but maybe he wants to say he “got things done, even in bureaucratic NY.” He probably believes that highway projects, as opposed to transit, will play well in Peoria.

At the same time, assistance for transportation is growing in Westchester Nation. In New Rochelle, the seventh-largest town in New You are able to, the City Authorities all approved a quality Thursday re-inifocing its assistance for Tappan Zee Transit,.